An industry shudders as Amazon buys Whole Foods for $13.7bn

AMAZON announced on June 16th that it would pay $13.7bn to buy Whole Foods, a grocer known for its organic produce. On the face of it, the purchase might not seem to upset the grocery cart, either for Amazon or for the supermarket business. Amazon controls a measly 0.2% of America’s grocery market; Whole Foods has just 1.2%, according to GlobalData, a research firm and consultancy. By Chinese standards, Amazon looks slow: Alibaba, another e-commerce titan, bought a 32% stake in a Chinese grocer last year.

Nor is Whole Foods a juggernaut. It has about 450 stores in America, Britain and Canada, but American shoppers are now buying a wide range of organic foods at other grocers, without having to put up with Whole Foods’s steep prices or its hipster clientele.

Nevertheless, the deal marks a new era for Amazon. It has run a few experiments in physical retail, including bookstores in Chicago and in New York. In Seattle it is testing a small grocer, Amazon Go, where...Continue reading

AMAZON announced on June 16th that it would pay $13.7bn to buy Whole Foods, a grocer known for its organic produce. On the face of it, the purchase might not seem to upset the grocery cart, either for Amazon or for the supermarket business. Amazon controls a measly 0.2% of America’s grocery market; Whole Foods has just 1.2%, according to GlobalData, a research firm and consultancy. By Chinese standards, Amazon looks slow: Alibaba, another e-commerce titan, bought a 32% stake in a Chinese grocer last year.

Nor is Whole Foods a juggernaut. It has about 450 stores in America, Britain and Canada, but American shoppers are now buying a wide range of organic foods at other grocers, without having to put up with Whole Foods’s steep prices or its hipster clientele.

Nevertheless, the deal marks a new era for Amazon. It has run a few experiments in physical retail, including bookstores in Chicago and in New York. In Seattle it is testing a small grocer, Amazon Go, where...Continue reading